Red Hat Gains in Fourth Quarter

Red Hat, Inc. earned $23.4 million in net income in their fourth fiscal quarter ending February 28, 2010, compared with $16.4 million in last year's Q4.

Total revenue grew 18% from the same period in 2009 to $195.9 million. The year-end report for fiscal 2010 shows a net income of $87 million, compared with $79 million at the end of 2009. The total yearly revenue grew by 15% to $748.2 million, of which the lion's share was subscriptions ($638.7 million), up 18% from the previous year. Training and services brought in $109.6 million in revenue over the year.

Executive VP and CFO Charlie Peters spoke of an exceptionally successful Q4. "This year has been about consistent execution in the most difficult economic conditions in our lifetime." He continued, "We added over 350 employees consistently throughout the year, principally in engineering and sales" while "continuing to invest significantly." The company apparently benefited from it.

"With record bookings and billings in the fourth quarter, we are on a run rate to become the first pure-play open source company to achieve a billion dollars in revenues next fiscal year, a milestone achievement for Red Hat and the open source community," stated Jim Whitehurst, President and Chief Executive Officer of Red Hat.